His nickname was Mottai Boss (bald boss) a moniker given to him, thanks to his shiny bald pate, by a young girl who used to work with his wife. Mottai Boss’s real name was Chan Pasha and he was our friendly neighbourhood car mechanic—a job he was very good at. Since he lived just down the road and his wife worked for me as a domestic help back then, it was easy to get him at a pinch. Whether it was my Premier Padmini or the second hand Fiat that I bought which turned out to be a white elephant, Chan Pasha aka Bai could magically tune, recalibrate to perfection and bring to life the vehicles.
In the days before power steering, after a Chan Pasha treatment, the vehicle could be steered with effortless ease. The bonus was that he would sometimes work in our own garage. So, one could see him go under the vehicle in his work clothes and dismantle the parts one by one, soak them in kerosene, replace what needed to be changed and assemble the vehicle once again and be fascinated by the process. The only downside was that something or the other would make us go back to him again and again.
Chan Pasha liked his evening drink to unwind and often his hands would tremble uncontrollably in the daytime when he came to receive his payment, but they were sure and steady when working on a vehicle.
In the peak of his career Chan Pasha suffered an injury to his eye. He was popular with children and used to play with them. On one occasion a little girl waving a stick accidentally poked him. Once I heard of the accident I immediately arranged for Chan Pasha to be treated by an ophthalmologist I knew and by the grace of God he didn’t suffer any loss of vision. Chan Pasha was also sought after by motor racing enthusiasts who wanted their vehicles to be in top condition before an event.
Then we had a whole range of vehicles being rolled out by big car manufacturers and the technology became more and more sophisticated. The new vehicles not only needed fewer repairs, they also had their own service centres and Chan Pasha was needed less and less.
Chan Pasha took up the job of a security guard for a while. With age catching up he eventually became almost bedridden. And not so long ago when he had set out for his morning cuppa he collapsed on the very road on which all the vehicles his hands had wrought magic had once plied, and passed on.
Email: sudha.ganesha@gmail.com